1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a method for controlling the printing apparatus; more specifically, the present invention relates to a printing apparatus that uses a recording material and that can be shifted to a state where a user can supply the recording material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing apparatus that that automatically detects shortage of recording material and prompts a user to replenish the recording material such as toner or in ink is known. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 09-185253 discloses a conventional printing apparatus that causes a toner storage container to automatically move to an exchange position when the printing apparatus detects a toner end during printing or after printing.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-078740 discloses a printing apparatus that is shifted to a cartridge exchange mode when the printing apparatus detects a user opening a toner cartridge door. Alternatively, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 08-238781 discloses a printing apparatus that is shifted to an exchange mode when the printing apparatus receives an instruction of an “ink exchange” through a menu displayed on a host device.
When the user replenishes the recording material of a printing apparatus, no conflict of operations for replenishing the recording material has occurred conventionally between a plurality of users. However, when the operations relating to the replenishment of the recording material can be performed according to both of a command received from an external device and a user instruction issued through an operation panel or the like, there is a case where different operations are performed according to each of the command and the instruction and therefore there is the possibility that the replenishment may be unnecessarily repeated. Further, in a case where the operation relating to the replenishment of the recording material can be performed according to a command from each of a plurality of external devices, the replenishment may not be performed smoothly because the respective commands request different operations.
When a user attempts to use a printing apparatus, and if the printing apparatus is short on the recording material, the user has to replenish the recording material. However, when the user attempts to use the printing apparatus after replenishment of the recording material, other user may start using the printing apparatus. In this case, the user who replenished the recording material himself cannot use the printing apparatus immediately after the replenishment of the recording material and the user has to wait for the other user to finish using the printing apparatus.